I'm having a zombie birthday party this weekend, and I thought we needed a little fun to go along with the Pin the Limb on the Zombie game.

So, I came up with this:

He's a sassy lil fellow I like to call Jake. I'll tell you how I made Jake:

First, I blew up a medium sized standard balloon and tie it. (Now, I didn't realize at the time that the balloon had a leak, but serendipity is great and probably was what caused the awesome wrinkles in Jake's head. So, I'm not sure how to get that, but we'll get to that later.) Then, rip newspaper sheets into 2 inch wide strips. Can be whatever length, but is usually the length of the paper. Using about a cup of liquid starch in a pie tin, you dip each strip into the starch until its soaked but not enough that its falling apart. Stick it to the balloon. Keep doing it until all of the balloon except the place it is tied is covered. (This "hole" will be where you fill the pinata) I was impatient, as well, so I let it dry in front of a fan (hanging upside down over the pie tray in case it dripped, which it did) for about 1/2 an hour. After that it was still wet but not dripping or annoying. I did another layer of strips. Then dried for another 1/2 hour. Then the final third layer. After that, I hung it in the vanity area of our bathroom, letting it drip into the pie pan. It hung there for about 2 days. (I wish I had pictures of the process! dur i totally forgot!)

On the third day, I brought him out of isolation (heh) and took him to the living room with me. It was then I noticed that the balloon had leaked and had quietly gone its own way (ie. it fell on the floor as empty as they day before it was blown.). So what was left was basically a husk! This is where it gets fun.

First, decide what color you want his skin to be. Some people like flesh tones along with some grey. I chose grey because I like my zombies long dead-alive. I used acrylics (mixing black, white and blue) to make the weird blue-grey color. After painting an entire layer, i let it dry. Acrylics are fast, so I was able to keep working on it after a little while. Then I went straight into painting the face. I used the natural curves of the accidental leaking balloon as a guide and you can sort of see how i did that with the nose and the eyebrows.

I am by no means a good artists, but I did my best in drawing his face and making his mouth look like half of it had been ripped off. At least I hope I did. I used fimo (and painted it) for the eyeball that is falling out. Use a good adhesive, unlike me. My eyeball keeps falling off. I'll probably superglue it right before the party. On the top of his head, I used fimo to add details of 'brains' coming out of his skull. Poor Jake! And then i slathered on the red/blood. After all of that had dried I used acrylic glitter paint to add accents and to make him look a little wet/slimy.

After this, the fun happens. I'll be doing this last minute since i'm putting candies inside, but if you choose little gifts or toys or favors, you can do this step ahead of time.

Insert the gifts/candies/toys.Use strong masking tape to cover up the hole. Paint over the hole to match the paint job you did. Let try.

When you get ready to hit it, I suggest a nice rope loop through the top of his skull. Just pierce through one side, like you're sewing, and go through the other and then drive through the rope or whatever you're going to use. Not as sophisticated as a regular pinata, but it will have to do. I didn't think ahead enough for that

So, that's that. It's super easy even though it takes a few days to do. Mostly it just takes patience.